CST Department Newsletters

student research exhibition Geology

By combining sophisticated technologies with sound investigative strategies, today's geologists are unlocking secrets of our planet. Geologic studies are essential for the effective management of energy, water, and minerals, and they provide long-term views of global climate change. Geologists also predict and find ways to cope with natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Learn more about the Department of Geology by visiting www.gel.cmich.edu

Fall 2008 Highlights

  • Geology professors Mona Sirbescu, James Student, Kathy Benison, and Mary Tecklenburg (Chemistry), have been awarded a $70,000+ NSF grant for their research, "MRI: An Acquisition of an Advanced Fluid and Melt Inclusion Laboratory."
  • Professor Kathy Benison is a part of the NRC Panel on the safe return of Mars' rock samples.
  • Associate professor Sven Morgan has been given the go-ahead by an international group to convene the third Laccolith and Sills Intrusions (LASI) meeting in Henry Mountains, Utah in 2010.
  • Assistant professor Anthony Feig has been introducing new technologies, such as podcasts, into his GEL 101 course.
  • Kimberly Hoogewind, a senior and a meteorology major, earned third place honors in the Undergraduate Student Poster Presentation at the National Weather Association's 33rd Annual Meeting held in Louisville, Kentucky from October 11-16, 2008. Hoogewind's poster, "Accuracy of a Local WRF-ARW Model Run for the 22-24 December 2007 Cyclone Using the New Model Evaluation Tools Verification Package," was recognized from a field of 28 students representing several schools across the U.S. Her co-author was Dr. Martin A. Baxter, Assistant Professor of Meteorology. This is the second year in a row that a CMU meteorology student has placed at this prestigious event.
  • Professor Kathy Benison attended the Geological Society of America meeting in October, where she was informed that a recent paper of hers won the "Best Paper Award" for 2007 from the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM). Benison's paper was selected from over 120 that were published last year in the Journal of Sedimentary Research, the major journal in the field of sedimentary geology. She will be presented with the award in June 2009 at the awards ceremony in Denver, Colo.